Climate change will most severely impact areas where a majority of the world’s extremely poor live, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia. Therefore, research is needed to, first, better understand the nature of these impacts and their repercussions and, second, assist developing country governments and international agencies in mitigating the impending consequences of climate change facing poor communities. Research can help identify strategies that households, communities, firms, and governments can take and policies to embrace to facilitate such adaptations to climate change in resource-poor contexts.
IIEP held its first international conference in 2011 on the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change in Low-income Countries. The conference featured frontier research and policy analysis over two full days, reinforcing GW’s place as a leader on this critical issue. The conference was undertaken in partnership with the World Bank (Development Research Group) and the United Nations Development Program (Environment and Energy Group – Global Environmental Finance Team). Since then, IIEP has hosted numerous conferences and events on various aspects of climate change policy including the IMF Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Economic Effects and Policy Responses to Climate Change and Natural Disasters, Governing Finance and Climate Change, and India’s environmental challenges and green frontier.
IIEP and its faculty also specialize in the study of sustainable cities, investigating how to make the urbanization process more sustainable. IIEP organizes an annual conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction with the World Bank, the IMF, the International Growth Centre, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Millenium Challenge Corporation. We also organize multiple workshops and seminars where prominent policy and academic speakers can share their views and solutions to the problems of fast-growing but declining cities; unplanned, uncontrolled, and unsustainable urbanization; and environmental degradation from cities. IIEP’s research also works on international and domestic real estate markets, focusing on housing supply, housing affordability, sustainability, and inclusiveness.
IMF Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa
GW-World Bank Sustainable Cities workshops
April 4th, 2024
February 15th, 2024
May 9th, 2023
March 10th, 2023
2023 Events
April 2023: Governing Finance and Climate Change
2021 Events
“Economic Effects and Policy Responses to Climate Change and Natural Disasters” featuring Boutheina Guermiza (World Bank Director), Solomon Hsiang (Berkeley), Esteban Rossi-Hansberg (Chicago), Richard Damania (World Bank), Rémi Jedwab (GWU), Román Zárate (World Bank), Kelsey Jack (UCSB), Jonathan Dingel (Chicago), Marshall Burke (Stanford), Klaus Desmet (SMU), Sheetal Sekhri (UVA), Mariaflavia Harari (Penn – Wharton), and Paulina Olive (USC) – Thursday, December 2nd, 2021
“Climate Change and Migration: The Case of Africa” featuring Bruno Conte (Università di Bologna) – Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
“The Challenges of Technology & Economic Catch-Up in Emerging Economies” featuring Nicholas Vonortas (GWU), Jeon-Dong Lee (Seoul National University), Keun Lee (Seoul National University), Dirk Meissner (National Research University Higher School of Economics), Slavo Radosevic (University College London), Otaviano Canuto (World Bank), Anwar Aridi (World Bank), and Alyssa Ayres (GWU) – Tuesday, November 30, 2021
“Accelerating Systemic Transformation: A Case Study from Wales (UK)” featuring Jyoti Banerjee (North Star Transition), Jenny Scott (Apella), Victoria Topham (University of Durham), Sunil Sharma (GWU), Jay Shambaugh (GWU), and Ann Florini (ASU) – Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
“The Future Global Economic and Spatial Consequences of Climate Change” featuring Klaus Desmet (SMU) – Tuesday, October 26, 2021
“Governing the New Voluntary Carbon Markets” featuring Mark Kenbar (Orbitas), Kavita Prakash-Mani (Mandai Nature), Ann Florini (ASU), Jay Shambaugh (GWU), and Sunil Sharma (GWU) – Tuesday, October 19, 2021
“Getting India to the Green Frontier” featuring Jayant Sinha (Parliament of India) and Mohua Mukherjee (World Bank), Nitin Desai (Government of India) – Wednesday, September 29, 2021
“Poverty, Climate, and Unemployment: Towards a World of Three Zeros” featuring Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), James Foster (GWU), and Alyssa Ayres (GWU) – Thursday, September 16, 2021
“Food Systems at a Crossroads: How to fix them and help peop.e, economies, and the planet” featuring Sunil Sharma (GWU), Nicoletta Batini (IMF), Bruce Friedrich (Good Fund Institute), and Ann Florini (ASU) – Thursday, June 24, 2021
“Policy Choices and Contagion: The Covid Pandemic and the Climate Crisis” featuring Robert Frank (Cornell), Roland Kupers (ASU), Sunil Sharma (GWU), Ann Florini (ASU), and James Foster (GWU) – Wednesday, May 26, 2021
“8th Annual Conference Washington Area Development Economics Symposioum (WADES)” featuring Remi Jedwab (GWU), Deniz Sanin (Georgetown), Tomohiro Hara (Maryland), Alessandra Fenizia (GWU), Shan Aman-Rana (UVA), M. R. Sharan (Maryland), Juan Santos (UVA), Jishu Das (Georgetown), Federico Haslop (GWU), Gaurav Chiplunar (UVA), and Catherine Michaud Leclerc (Georgetown) – Thursday, May 13, 2021
“India’s Environment Challenges and Impact of COVID” featuring Sunita Narain (Delhi), Laveesh Bhandari (CSEP), Muthukumar Mani (World Bank), and Jay Shambaugh (GWU) – Wednesday, May 12, 2021
“Peace in the Age of Chaos” featuring Steve Killela (IEP), Pedro Conceição (UNDP), Matthew Levinger (GWU), and Sabina Alkire (OPHI) – Thursday, April 22, 2021
“Minimum Performance Targets, Multitasking and Incentives: Theory and Evidence from China’s Air Quality Controls” featuring Li-An Zhou (Peking University), Matthew Khan (John Hopkins), Jay Shambaugh (GWU), and Chao Wei (Stanford) – Friday, April 9, 2021
“India’s Farm Laws” featuring Kaushik Basu (Cornell), S. Dev (IGIDR), and Sudha Narayanan (IFPRI) – Friday, February 26, 2021
“Governing Finance for Sustainable Prosperity” featuring Alexander Barkawi (CEP), Jay Shambaugh (GWU), Ann Florini (ASU), Sunil Sharma (GWU), and James Foster (GWU) – Wednesday, February 24, 2021
“Analysing Individual Deprivations alongside Household Poverty: Possibilities for Gendered, Intrahousehold, and Multidimensional Analyses” featuring Rizwan Haq (OPHI), Cheryl Doss (IFPRI), and Jeni Klugman (Georgetown Institute for Women) – Monday, February 22, 2021
“Taking Stock of Climate Change: Earth, Air, Fire and Water” featuring David Henry (Oxford), Jennifer Castle (Oxford), Ann Florini (ASU), James Foster (GWU), and Sunil Sharma (GWU) – Wednesday, January 27, 2021
2022 Events
“The End of Growth and the Return of Ideology: Economics, Sustainability, and Technology in Xi Jinping’s China” featuring Scott M. Moore (University of Pennsylvania), John Helveston (GWU), Barbara Stallings (GWU) – Friday, 4th November, 2022
“An environmentally-augmented Multidimensional Poverty Index: The Case of Madagascar” featuring Sabina Alkire (OPHI), Herizo Andrianandrasana (OPHI), Alexandra Fortacz (OPHI), Frank Vollmer (OPHI) , Han Wang (Oxford) – Monday, 10th October, 2022
“Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus on The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions” featuring Muhammad Yunus (Glasgow Caledonian Universit), Alyssa Ayres (GWU), James Foster (GWU) – Thursday, October 27th, 2022
“IMF Africa REO” featuring Catherina Pattillo (IMF), Steve Suranovic (GWU), Ivanova Reyes (IMF), Hany Abdel-Latif (IMF), Qianqian Zhang (IMF), Moses Kansanga(GWU), Robert Weiner (GWU) – Wednesday, November 16th, 2022
“Health in the Social Cost of Carbon: Recent Advances to Fill a Critical Gap” featuring Kevin Cromar (NYU), Noah Scovronick (Emory University), Tamma Carleton (UC Santa Barbra), Susan Anenburg (GWU), and Jay Shambaugh (GWU) – Tuesday, March 22, 2022
“Looking for Balanced Growth in China: Insights from the latest IMF Staff report” featuring Helge Berger (Berlin), Wenjie Chen (IMF China), Chao Wei (GWU), and Jay Shambaugh (GWU) – Friday, March 4, 2022
“Regulating Conglomerates: Evidence from an Energy Conservation Program in China” featuring Daniel Xu (Duke University) – Tuesday, March 1, 2022
“India at 75: Systemic Challenges and the Path Ahead” featuring Ravinder Kaur (University of Copenhagen), Ajay Chhibber (GWU), Sunil Sharma (GWU) and Jay Shambaugh (GWU) – Wednesday, February 23, 2022
“Trade Shocks and Supply Chains: What is Happening to the WTO and Globalization” featuring Bob Koopman (Geneva), Michael Moore (GWU) and Jay Shambaugh (GWU) – Tuesday, February 22, 2022
“Equitable Action for Climate Change” featuring Jyoti Parikh (IRADe), Kirit Parikh (IRADe), Amar Bhattacharya (Brookings Institution) and Shreekant Gupta (Delhi) – Wednesday, February 9, 2022
“Unshackling India: Hard Truths and Clear Choices for Economic Revival” featuring James Foster (GWU), Alyssa Aryes (GWU), Ajay Chhibber (GWU), Salman Soz (International Institutions), Kaushik Basu (Cornell) and Martin Wolf (London) – Wednesday, February 2, 2022
“The U.S. Federal Reserve and Economic Inequality” featuring Jay Shambaugh (GWU), Karen Petrou (Federal Finance Analytics), Mark Levonian (formerly of Promontory Financial Group), Bill Nelson (Bank Policy Institute) and Peter Conti-Brown (University of Pennsylvania) – Wednesday, January 26, 2022
2020 Events
Sustainability and the Architecture of Global Finance” featuring Simon Zadek (Finance for Biodiversity), Ann Florini (ASU), Sonja Gibbs (IIF), James Foster (GWU), and Sunil Sharma (GWU) – Thursday, December 3, 2020
“Valuing Nature: Whales, Elephants, and the Global Economy” featuring Ralph Chami (ICD), Ann Florini (ASU), James Foster (GWU), and Sunil Sharma (GWU) – Thursday, November 19, 2020
“IMF October 2020 World Economic Outlook” – Wednesday, October 28, 2020
“IMF’s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Ecomonic Outlook (REO)” featuring James Foster (GWU), Jennifer Cooke (GWU), Andrew John (IMF), Louise Fox (Brookings), Seung Choi (IMF), Stephen Smith (GWU), Preya Sharma (IMF), and Esther Chibesa (Citigroup) – Thursday, July 23, 2020
“Reckoning with Systemic Hazards” – Thursday, June 25, 2020
“Just Governance: Lessons on Climate Change Justice from People in Poverty” featuring Brooke Ackerly (Vanderbilt) – Tuesday, June 16, 2020
“Covering the Other Half Billion: China’s Rural Sector” featuring Robert Ash (University of London) and David Shambaugh (GWU) – Thursday, February 27, 2020
“Agricultural Transformation and Farmers’ Expectations: Experimental Evidence from Uganda” – Tuesday, January 28, 2020
